Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ job appears to once again be in jeopardy after an early morning tweet-storm from Donald Trump centering on the ongoing Russian inquiry and Sessions’ March 2017 decision to recuse himself from overseeing the investigation.
In a series of Tweets, Trump said “I wish I did” pick someone other than Sessions to head the Department of Justice, citing comments from longtime Sessions opponent SC Rep. Trey Gowdy.
Rep.Trey Gowdy, “I don’t think so, I think what the President is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward. If I were the President and I picked someone to be the country’s….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
….chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later, ‘oh by the way I’m not going to be able to participate in the most important case in the office, I would be frustrated too…and that’s how I read that – Senator Sessions, why didn’t you tell me before I picked you…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
….There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!” And I wish I did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
Trump has made no secret of his grievance with Sessions over the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the investigation. A story in Tuesday’s New York Times reported that Trump asked Sessions last March to reverse his decision, a highly unusual request that special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly looking at now as well.
Sessions was once one of Trump’s closest allies, but the estrangement has reached the point where Trump reportedly has said he would like to remove Sessions, but Senate Republicans have blocked him, indicating they would not approve a new attorney general.
This isn’t the first time Trump has expressed regret at appointing Sessions. In July, Trump told the New YorkTimes he would never have nominated him if he’d known that Sessions would not oversee the investigation.
Sessions reportedly offered to resign last year after a browbeating by the president, but that offer was refused.